


A Mouthful of Cake

by solarishashernoseinabook



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Comedy, Drunkenness, Reminiscing, Underage Drinking, embarassing moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarishashernoseinabook/pseuds/solarishashernoseinabook
Summary: Based on the following prompt:Will, Horace and Evanlyn have a nice get together when they all remember something embarrasing they did in the past. Let’s hope the others do not...
Relationships: Cassandra | Evanlyn & Will Treaty, Horace Altman & Cassandra | Evanlyn, Horace Altman & Will Treaty
Comments: 13
Kudos: 18
Collections: Ranger's Apprentice Quarantine Exchange Party





	A Mouthful of Cake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LifeOfRoos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LifeOfRoos/gifts).



Horace took a swig of coffee. It was the harvest festival, and for the first time since the first year of his apprenticeship, Will had the day off. Horace had told Alyss, George and Jenny he would be free, and they all promised to come when they could. Then Will had thought to invite Evanlyn, she had gotten permission to come, and now Horace and Will were sitting in an empty barn near Redmont castle, making light small talk.

The barn was old and gaps and holes in the planks let in some light, but it was still mostly dim inside. As such, when Evanlyn finally threw open the door, Will and Horace were both temporarily blinded.

‘Really? You’ll face an army of Temujai but you’re scared of a little light?’ she teased.

‘Thought you were a monster coming in, what with that weird thing you’re wearing,’ Will grumbled.

‘Dad made me wear it,’ Evanlyn said, rolling her eyes. She was wearing a long dress, the skirt of which she held bunched in her hand to avoid it dragging on the ground, a short cape, and a hat with a very wide brim to keep off the sun. the effect made her appear oddly rectangular, except for the hat. Not helping were the bright, garish colours of her clothing – her dress was orange with green accenting, and her cape was blue.

Horace took a moment to absorb the whole effect this created. ‘He uh. He made you wear exactly that, did he?’

‘Well, not exactly. He just said I had to dress fancy and wouldn’t back down no matter what I said.’ She grinned. ‘He didn’t say I had to dress _nice_.’

Will and Horace laughed and Evanlyn took a seat against a hay bale. From below her cloak she proffered an earthenware jug, its cork covered with wax. ‘I brought this. Had to bribe some kitchen staff for it.’

‘What is it?’ Horace asked.

‘Mead.’ Evanlyn smiled brightly.

‘Mead!’ Horace’s eyes widened. ‘Are you allowed to have mead?’

‘On special occasions. But what Dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him.’ She had a mischievous grin on her face. After a moment Horace dumped the cold dregs of his coffee and held out his cup.

‘I shudder at what Halt would say about all that honey going to waste,’ Will said, eyeing the jug, but he drained his remaining coffee in a gulp and held the mug to Evanlyn for his own share.

Horace passed her another mug for herself and she filled it before holding it up. ‘To the harvest!’

Will and Horace exchanged glances, but clinked glasses with her and murmured “to the harvest”. Will sniffed his cup dubiously before taking a sip. ‘Oh, it’s sweet!’ he said.

Evanlyn grinned at him. ‘It’s not our best bottle – Dad would notice that – but it’s still pretty good.’

Horace was already holding out his mug for more. Determined to not be outdone, Will finished his cup in a couple of gulps and held it out as well.

He wasn’t sure how many mugs he had before he realised he was light-headed. Horace’s movements were wild and he was spilling almost as much mead as he was drinking. Evanlyn still seemed perfectly composed, though perhaps she was moving with more deliberation as she poured out fresh mugs for all of them.

‘Hey. Hey. Hey,’ Horace said. ‘Hey.’ He took another swig of mead. ‘Hey.’

Will slapped him. ‘G-Get on with it.’

‘Hey. Will. Remember—’ Horace hiccuped. ‘Remember Harvest Day when we were ten?’

Will blushed. ‘N-No.’

‘You do.’ Horace waggled his finger at him. ‘You do or you wouldn’t be blushing.’

‘What does he doesn’t remember?’ Evanlyn said, and perhaps it said something for Horace’s drunkenness that he didn’t have to think to comprehend this.

‘We were ten,’ he said. ‘We. We. We were ten. And Will. Will. Will. Will stole some cakes.’

‘I _found_ those cakes!’ Will said.

‘On a table. And he stole an armful of ‘em.’

‘What’d he do?’ Evanlyn asked.

‘He shared ‘em out with us.

An’ an’ an’ told us how he got ‘em.’ Horace hiccuped again. ‘Three times.’

Evanlyn giggled.

‘Hey, even y-yo-you wanted me to keep telling it!’ Will said.

‘A-Anyway.’ Horace was giggling to himself. ‘Anyway. He was so caught up telling it he forgot to eat his before Arald came.’

Evanlyn burst out into explosive giggles. ‘What happened?’

Will mumbled something.

‘What?’ Evanlyn said.

‘I s-stuffed them in my mouth,’ Will said.

Horace and Evanlyn both fell over laughing.

‘And the— the— and then Arald had us line up,’ Will said, ‘and he talked to us about proper b-behaviour during Harvest Day, and I was standing there not able to open my mouth or chew or—’

The door opened, but Evanlyn and Horace were laughing too hard to notice. Alyss, Jenny and George were there, looking perplexed. ‘What happened here?’ George asked.

‘I might’ve stolen the c-cakes,’ Will said, Evanlyn and Horace still lying on the ground giggling around him, ‘but I didn't get caught an’ there’s no proof I stole ‘em in the first place!’

‘Are you talking about when we were ten?’ Jenny asked.

‘You can’t prove I did it, an’ if I did I didn’t!’ Will said. He hiccuped and fell over.

‘Let’s leave them to sleep it off,’ Alyss said, picking up the bottle of mead.

‘I wonder why they were going on about stealing the cakes?’ Jenny asked.

‘Me too,’ Alyss said, smirking. ‘Especially when you remember that was the same day Will fell out of the tree right on top of Arald and knocked him off his horse.’ 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it LifeOfRoos! :D


End file.
